Grandmaster of Risk

The beauty of theoretical physics intersects with the messy business of stock picking at the Newark, New Jersey, office of PGIM Quantitative Solutions. There, George N. Patterson, a physics Ph.D. who left a career at the National Aeronautics & Space Administration to work on investing, presides over a research team that includes 13 other doctorates.
A physicist on Wall Street? If you’re into partial differential equations, you won’t find this such an odd fit. The equation that describes the drift of stock prices is almost identical to the one that defines the movement of heat. There is a big difference, though, between the disciplines of natural science and finance. Planets follow predictable trajectories, while securities markets are sometimes just nutty. Patterson makes the point: “Gravity never has a bad year.”
As PGIM Quant’s chief investment officer, Patterson has the task of adapting abstract theories found in finance textbooks to the practical assignment of assembling stock, bond and commodity portfolios for mostly institutional clients. Tools: arcane objects like copulas, directed graphs and hidden Markov models. Input: 61 terabytes of data. Output: 400,000 trades a year.
“We’re like a baleen whale filtering tiny shrimp,” Patterson says. A whale in a big pod: PGIM Quant accounts for $102 billion of the $1.3 trillion in global investment management at Prudential Financial, the 149-year-old insurer.
Patterson, 58, remembers from his childhood a visit to the New York Mercantile Exchange with his father, a commodities trader. So perhaps it was not a surprise that, early in his career doing computer simulations at NASA’s Pasadena, California, lab, Barclays Global Investors was able to lure him away. He joined PGIM in 2017.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der August 2024-Ausgabe von Forbes Middle East - English.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 9.500 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der August 2024-Ausgabe von Forbes Middle East - English.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 9.500 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden

Meet the 5 Richest Arab Families
The Middle East is home to some of the world's most influential families, whose wealth spans industries like construction, telecom, and automotive. Here are the top five richest Arab families, which we compiled by combining the wealth of family members on the Forbes World's Billionaires list 2025. Net worths are as of March 7, 2025.

BACK ON TOP
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud, Founder and Chairman of Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding Company and the richest Arab businessman in the world with a net worth of $16.5 billion, has his eyes firmly set on Al's impact, Saudi Arabia's evolution, and the world's trade wars.

TOP 100 ARAB FAMILY BUSINESSES 2025
Middle Eastern family businesses are far more than commercial enterprises—they are pillars of society, deeply interwoven with the region’s cultural fabric and historical legacy.

THE WORLD'S RICHEST ARABS 2025
According to Forbes' World Billionaires 2025 list, the number of billionaires across the globe has exceeded 3,000 for the first time, with 3,028 people making this year's ranking-247 more than in 2024.

Saudi Billionaires Back Among the World's Richest on Forbes' World's Billionaires List
After a seven-year hiatus, the richest business people from the Middle East's second-largest economy are once again being featured on the Forbes' World's Billionaires list.

The U.A.E.'s Expat Billionaires 2025
The U.A.E. is one of the world's leading destinations for expatriate high-net-worth and ultra-highnet-worth individuals. The Forbes World's Billionaires 2025 list features 13 such individuals, with a collective net worth of $141.9 billion. Here's a look at who they are.

The World's Wealthiest Women
Women are still a minority among the world's billionaires, holding just over 13.4% of the spots on the Forbes' World's Billionaires list 2025. Despite the slow climb, their influence is undeniable. This list highlights the five wealthiest women globally. Net worths are as of March 7, 2025.

GROWTH UNDER PRESSURE
As it approaches its centennial, Hassan Allam Holding is today led by third-generation Co-CEOs Hassan and Amr Allam. Amid shifting market dynamics, their focus is firmly on accelerating regional growth, supported by a project backlog exceeding $5.8 billion.

Pharma's Chinese Takeout
KAILERA jumped the weight loss miracle-drug line by licensing four clinical-stage obesity therapies from China, which is quickly emerging as a powerhouse pharmaceutical R&D center. After all, why spend millions trying to develop novel medications in the U.S. when Chinese firms have probably already done it for you?

THE NEXT FRONTIER
The world's richest Emirati billionaire, Hussain Sajwani, Founder of the DAMAC Group, is doubling down on digital infrastructure with a $20 billion U.S. data centre push through EDGNEX, while leveraging Al across his real estate empire. As global markets brace for volatility, Sajwani is building resilient growth from Dubai to the cloud.